Alternate Character Interpretation: Does Phil have genuine problems seeing where things really are, or is he just screwing with Harvey? ("Sit down, Birdman. Not there, there!!")
"Whoooooo... is the man in the suuuuuit?" The song turned out to be so awesome that it spawned a television show. Supposedly, the only reason the show exists is because the creator improvised the theme song at some Williams Street party as a joke. They really liked it.
In "Shaggy Busted", Harvey says that experience is the only thing that separates us from the animals- "That, and product placement." The episode then goes into a live-action advertisement for Tab cola (including an actor dressed as a giant soda can).
In "Blackwatch Plaid", after a short series of security camera footage, the episode suddenly transitions into a montage of a live-action Birdman doing completely random things. This has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the episode and is never brought up again.
In "Sebben and Sebben Employee Orientation", the video repeatedly cuts to live-action footage instructing the viewer how to assemble an electric juicer.
In "Evolutionary War", Harvey has an existential crisis over how he's "not quite a bird, yet not quite a man," leading to a musical number where he puts on a Pimped-Out Dress and dances with a random guy in a parody of the ballroom dance scene from Beauty and the Beast. In his next scene, he's gotten over it and none of it ever comes up again.
Crosses the Line Twice: The entire "Deadomutt" two-parter from season one, which involves Birdman accused of murdering a dog out of jealousy, going to trial for murder, being found Not Guilty, having that verdict overruled and sent to prison on death row, spending five years in jail, getting married to a gorilla, and then finally being sent to the electric chair...at which point it is revealed that the whole ordeal was actually a big prank thrown for Birdman's 40th birthday (a Call-Back to Birdman stating he is thirty-six in the first part), and that the dog he apparently killed is actually fine. Birdman fails to see the funny side, especially when it's revealed the marriage is totally legit and wasn't part of the prank.
Phil Ken Sebben and Reducto. Both of them being voiced by Stephen Colbert helped.
The judge, Mentok the Mindtaker
For female fans, Birdgirl stands out as being (for the time the show came out) a rare heroine in a screwball comedy that was allowed to be as hilariously unhinged as the male cast (as opposed to the cast Straight Man), but without being defined by female-specific stereotypes (like G.G.).
And of course, the bear.
Genius Bonus: In "The Incredible Hippo", what flavor of Heisenberg Brothers Bagels should Potamus have? Harvey's not certain.
Harsher in Hindsight: Well, as "harsh" as anything in a screwball comedy show like this:
Reducto's obvious reaction to the Clown Car's first appearance, when Mightor first coughs it up in "Death by Chocolate". That is the very clown car that would kill Reducto four years later in "Babysitter."
The rather notorious scene where Scrappy is murdered by Avenger sparks some resemblance to Guardians Of Gahoole's Laughter Therapy—a humiliating ritual employed by the cultish Saint Aggie’s ‘orphanage’ to punish wayward owlets by picking them up in their claws and carrying them around while everyone laughs at them. That being said, since it's Scrappy getting this demise, Guardians of Gahoole readers may find this Hilarious in Hindsight instead.
In "Guitar Control", which aired around election season of 2004, Phil runs for President of the United States. His voice actor, Stephen Colbert, would go on to do the same by the time the next election rolled around. And come the "Attorney General" special in 2018, Phil really did become president.
Harvey: Fred Jones... Fred Jones. Fred Jo—? [Fred walks in] Fred Jones!
Black Vulcan mocking Aquaman during "Very Personal Injury" for suggesting the name, calling him Whitefish. His voice actor, Phil LaMarr, would later voice Aquaman himself in Young Justice (2010) and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Aqualad in Young Justice is also an original character who is black (and his father is named Black Manta) and ends up becoming the second holder of the Aquaman title in Season 3.
Yakky Doodle being frustrated that people can't correctly guess his gender became this after Yakky's appearances on the 2021 series Jellystone!, in which Yakky is now female.
"Back to the Present" had a brief scene of Birdman looking at his calendar for the year (which was 2004)◊ after George Jetson says that he and his family are from the future (which, to them, is the year 2002). People have begun replacing the year on the calendar with the current year as a way to mock or poke fun at others who mention things that are now outdated or overdue.
Nightmare Fuel: While all the cast experiences adaptational jerkass, Avenger has become a serial killer. And Birdman knows about it. This is not an ordinary animal with predatory instincts. he is intelligent enough to write, and he always chooses sapient animals as his victims. And he's just out and about. No amount of comedy can quite take off the edge of the utterly chilling idea that that quiet secretary of your defense attorney, the one you must have passed a million times without even giving him a second thought, has taken innocent lives, keeps the corpses, and treats those corpses as playthings behind closed doors.
Older Than They Think: Birdman's first name, Harvey, first originated in Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Due to the show's popularity, however, some believe this series is where the name came from.
This show shaped the way the general public views Peter Potamus. He's more remembered as an Amoral Attorney who wants to know if you got the thing he sent ya, rather than a world traveler.
The show itself has this effect as well—for years, many fans would only recognize Birdman by his Harvey Birdman iteration here rather than his original self.
Questionable Casting: The narrator from the "Employee Orientation" episode? That's Ferdinand Jay Smith, best known as the composer for the Starship HBO and the ABC Star Tunnel. One has to wonder how he got roped into this...he even came back for the Attorney General special.
Squick: Phil Ken Sebben lusting after his daughter Birdgirl. He is repeatedly told the truth but doesn't believe it. Near the end of the episode where he and Birdgirl are to be married he looks out over the crowd and decides "...there... might... have... been... someone... else... (he)... was... meant... to... be... with". Birdgirl's aunt Phyllis, Phil's sister! Not to mention how Aunt Phyllis looks just like Phil with a blonde wig and very large boobs in a dress. Yes, the eyepatch and mustache too. When he finally does understand who Birdgirl is (in the last episode) he is utterly disgusted and disappointed in her for trying to get into his pants. Especially since he's helpless, with the one eye. ...in his pants.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: There was criticism of the change from the earlier episodes where the parodies and fanon theories were more heavily used. As the series progressed a lot of people who wanted more of that found themselves frustrated. Which can make a double edge sword as a lot would argue the comedy is what made the series more than being a proper parody. On the other hand it makes the show (and it's ilk) look like they only used the Hanna Barbera character models to save money as there was very little point to the parody aspect when most of the characters are so far removed from source.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The show's premise is essentially the misadventures of a crass, crude, immature, Amoral Attorney, so this was hard to avoid. Right off we have a recurring character who frequently is trying to cover up his sexual exploits (well before the me-too movement but hardly before people like Peter Potamous).
◊ after George Jetson says that he and his family are from the future (which, to them, is the year 2002). People have begun replacing the year on the calendar with the current year as a way to mock or poke fun at others who mention things that are now outdated or overdue.
